History & Biography Hate Eternal was former Ripping Corpse and then current Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan's other death metal band. The Florida act started life parading names like Cannibal Corpse's Alex Webster on bass and former Suffocation man Doug Cerrito on guitar. Ironically, singer Jared Anderson would later fill in for Steve Tucker in Morbid Angel.
Following the debut, the band would tour Europe with God Dethroned and Cannibal Corpse. The band would later support Cannibal Corpse in North America on a bill also featuring Macabre and Cattle Decapitation. By this point Hate Eternal had become Rutan's priority and the guitarist announced his departure from Morbid Angel in late summer of 2002.
2003 would be eventful for the American death metal mob. Anderson would vacate his post to seek treatment for drug addiction. Rutan would be injured in a car accident on tour in March while on tour with Dying Fetus and Kataklysm. Two tours would follow, nevertheless, in the autumn of 2003. One would be as openers for Arch Enemy in North America and the other as openers for Hatebreed on a hardcore bill on the same continent. Randy Piro, who had filled in for Anderson for months, would take the latter's place on bass and backing vocals. Piro was formerly of The Council Of The Fallen.
Following the release of I, Monarch, in the spring of 2005 the band added second guitarist Eric Hersemann (ex-Diabolic and ex-Lord Blasphemer) to the line-up. Drummer Derek Roddy abruptly left the band in March, 2006 after complaining about a lack of income and was quickly replaced by Kevin Talley. Roddy, oddly enough, joined Today Is The Day a year later. The trio toured with God Forbid and Arch Enemy. Rutan also found the time to re-enter Morbid Angel in the summer of 2006, thus completing the band’s most successful line-up with David Vincent. Cannibal Corpse’s bassist, Alex Webster, was drafted to appear on Hate Eternal’s newest album in 2007. Webster was in fact returning to Hate Eternal and was replacing Randy Piro Jr. A new album was expected in late autumn. Shaune Kelley, who at one time was in Ripping Corpse with Erik Rutan, joined the band in the summer of 2007. The follow-up to 2005’s release I, Monarch was called Fury And Flames and was out at the beginning of 2008. The band was forced off the Job For A Cowboy North American tour following an infection in Erik Rutan's hand and a disease of the kidney in the autumn of 2008. Rutan was admitted to an Iowa City hospital.
Hate Eternal’s album Phoenix Amongst The Ashes was out through Metal Blade in May of 2011. The band was touring Canada in June. Goatwhore and Hate Eternal joined forces for a North American co-headlining tour in February and March of 2012. Support on the tour came from Fallujah and Cerebral Bore. Hate Eternal drummer Jade Simonetto left in the autumn of 2013 in order to continue his education and career. In late 2014, Hate Eternal signed with Season of Mist. Erik Rutan and J.J. Hrubovcak were at Rutan’s Mana Recording Studio recording a new Hate Eternal album, which was due in early 2015. Hate Eternal also announced Chason Westmoreland as its new drummer. Deicide would headline the fifth edition of the annual Metal Alliance tour in 2015. Support on the tour would come from Entombed A.D., Hate Eternal, Black Crown Initiate and another band. The tour would get cut short, however, due to financial problems. The band would release its next album, Infernus, on August 24th through Season Of Mist. The album was recorded at the band’s guitarist, Erik Rutan, Mana Recording. Following the departure of drummer Chason Westmoreland due to "family matters" the band recruited Hannes Grossmann (Obscura, Necrophagist, etc.) to occupy the stool for the tour with Misery Index, Beyond Creation And Rivers Of Nihil. Hate Eternal, Vital Remains, Inanimate Existence and Black Fast were touring the USA in mid-2016. Hate Eternal announced a European tour with Vader and Threat Signal in support of its latest album Infernus. The US death metal band kicked off its tour at the Druckerei in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany on November 4th. Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal and Harm’s Way were touring USA in the autumn of 2018. Hate Eternal released a new album, called Upon Desolate Sands, through Season Of Mist on October 26th.
Hate Eternal released an instrumental version of 2018’s Upon Desolate Sands album in 2020. The release was available through the act’s Bandcamp page only.
Reviews HATE ETERNAL - KING OF ALL KINGS - EARACHE
King Of All Kings, the second album of former Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan's Hate Eternal, is an album that makes the death metal genre proud. King Of All Kings features a new line-up. Gone is former Suffocation guitarist Cerrito and in is drum nomad Derek Roddy. What remains eternal is the full-force power and blasting. The trio comes together as one to restore the faith to the much denigrated death metal genre. In fact, Hate Eternal evades the doldrums that has befallen Morbid Angel as of late and keeps up the barrage of speed. Where King Of All Kings comes across as less majestic is in the sound and production departments. Produced by Rutan and at his own Mana Recording Studio, the new album is reminiscent of the recent and Rutan-produced Pessimist album in that the sound is moderately muffled and the guitars less sharp than ideal. Rutan needs to give the sound more of an edge. Having said that, King Of All Kings will remove the skin off many lesser mortals and a good suggestion for fans of real death metal.
HATE ETERNAL - I, MONARCH - EARACHE
I, reviewer have to remain resolute in my regard for Erik Rutan for maintaining his extremist views of music after all these. Hate Eternal's new album is one hell of a rabid death metal volume with the familiar speed accelerations one expects from the man and his cohorts. The vocals breathe guttural sewage, convey diabolical connotation and spur hatred without fail. The guitars play fiddle with your sanity and the drums of Derek Roddy blast away with enough horse power to lift three Alabama girls from their stools (that's 630 kilos right there). The solos are substantial and well incorporated.
That is not the whole story though. The band slows down to catch its breath from time to time, on the title track or the closing instrumental for example, and introduces syncopated riffing and spurtive chord progressions into the mix. On the down side, Rutan still does not know how to produce drums and manages what should have rightly been the grand hallmark of the band into a humdrum (pun intended) affair given the powerless bass drums and muddy snare and toms. Unfortunately, this is a trademark of Rutan and a pattern repeated with most bands he produces.
To sum though, Hate Eternal is one of the increasingly rare bands that emphasizes the speed element and true death metal over factors of the wimp and the so-called 'melodic death metal' thing prevalent nowadays. Having the benefit of the presence of experienced musicians also adds to the appeal of the Florida trio. Fans of the band's other albums, late '90s Morbid Angel and reliably fast death metal can call themselves king. - Ali "The Metallian"
HATE ETERNAL - FURY & FLAMES - METAL BLADE/KOCH 
Ladies and headbangers, Fury & Flames, the best Hate Eternal album yet. Amazing that Fury & Flames would turn out the fastest Hate Eternal album. It looks like the more Erik Rutan, himself not getting any younger, bands with older veterans like former Ripping Corpse band-mate Shaune Kelley and Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster the more energetic, speedy and chaotic the whole concern gets. The album does not allow the listener to come up for air once belting out at mach level speeds until the arrival of track ten, Coronach (yet another monarchical reference), which is really an outro for the disc. Moreover, Rutan has finally obtained a real drum sound with substance while preserving the guitar’s presence and growling evil. Add to that extensive soloing like on the oddly named Tombeau (Le Tombeau De la Fureue Et Des Flammes) and speed death metal has a new album it can proudly call its own. - Anna Tergel
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